Posted by Towards the Lesser Peace (63.197.53.200) on May 12, 2002 at 16:36:38:

In Reply to: Qur'anic religious and political law posted by Brett Zamir on May 12, 2002 at 00:25:42:

Thank you for posting the quote. As I suspected it would, it provided the appropriate context to which a proper response can now be given according to what I know.

In my oppinion this quote is not a suggestion to incorporate any aspect of human or divine knowledge into the Baha'i system, but rather it is a call for all peoples of the world to consult in any area of learning that will contribute to the advancement of the Lesser Peace and the establishement of collective security under a world federation of nations.

Baha'is believe the Baha'i System itself is perfect by virtue of the explicit Covenant revealed by Baha'u'llah; therefore, it is the first true theocracy to ever be established. As you may know, Baha'is believe that the Baha'i system will one day take the place of all religious and secular systems as the only governing force of a completely unified civilization, but a prerequisite to this final step is the establishment of the Lesser Peace, which, although it is modeled on Baha'i principles and institutions, is only the embryonic manifestation of a future world civilization.

In this light the Lesser Peace will no doubt happen out of necessity as the fabric of every old world system disintigrates from the continuing divisions occuring within their structures causing massive chaos. The intellectuals and leaders, both religious and secular, will have no choice but to come together to find a solution. In my opinion, the quote you have presented is a list of some of the conditions that must be fulfiled in order for the Lesser Peace to be established. These not only include an excellent understanding of Quranic Law, which I believe is a reference to the connotation of understanding more the science of its opperation and not the actual laws themselves, but also the sharing of all areas of human endeavor that can be applied to the expeditious establishemtn of collective security. By collective security Baha'is mean the establishment of a system that ensures the rights of individuals to be fairly represented in the whole system, but also the responsibility of such individuals to cooperate with other groups with fairness in order to secure that they themselves will be justly considered in return, like the golden rule applied to the whole world.

In conclusion, I believe this quote calls for all peoples to study such sciences as will be beneficial to the establishment of the beginnings of world justice and not a suggestion to change the Baha'i system in any way. The fact is that the Baha'i system does not need changing because it allows for the legislation and abrogation of laws by it's supreme body, the Universal House of Justice, to meet the needs of humanity as it progresses and this can never be in conflict with the Covenant because It has explicitly established that no changes can be made to the laws and ordinances already established by Baha'u'llah. I hope that the facts that I have stated are clear from my opinions and that this all makes sense.

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